Carney promises Quebecers ‘at the decision-making table’, ‘not stage managers’

Liberal leader Mark Carney promised on Thursday evening to ensure a place for Quebecers “at the decision-making table” if he wins the federal election.

“Not stage managers,” he said in a speech to a partisan rally in Old Montreal.

The outgoing prime minister had tailored his message to his audience, repeatedly attacking the Bloc Québécois, in addition to his usual jabs at Pierre Poilievre’s Conservatives.

“The Bloc is not taking the threat seriously,” he argued, referring to the tariff salvos that U.S. President Donald Trump keeps launching.

In his view, Bloc leader Yves-François Blanchet “has no plan,” while Poilievre would be “the worst person at the worst time.”

He also criticised the Conservative leader for refusing to fund the Quebec City tramway project if he came to power.

But once again, Trump was Carney’s main target throughout his speech.

“Today we heard about tariffs. I’d like to see what his response is going to be, basically it’s a momentous time so I just want to see what the man has to say,” said a Montrealer CityNews spoke to.

Another added, “There’s no games at play so I’d just like him to keep that calm steadiness and navigate our way through this, and I think he can do it.”

As he had done a few hours earlier in his Prime Minister’s robes in Ottawa, Carney argued that the relationship between the U.S. and Canada will never be the same again because of a broken trust.

“Our response to these tariffs is to fight to protect and to build. We will fight these actions with retaliatory trade actions that will have the maximum impact in the United States and the minimum impact to Canada,” said Carney.

“It will take steady and focused determination from government, from business, from labour, in partnership. We will need to dramatically reduce our alliance with the United States. We will need to build new trading relationships elsewhere.”

“It may be that with ‘comprehensive’ (in-depth) negotiations we can restore an element of trust, but there will be no going back,” he said.

The outgoing Prime Minister hit the road again on Thursday to continue his election campaign activities, which he had put on hold to focus on the government’s response to the U.S. threat of new tariffs.

Some thirty Liberal candidates from the metropolitan area were in attendance on Thursday evening, including Minister Mélanie Joly, former Minister Marc Miller and Polytechnique massacre survivor Nathalie Provost.

–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews